Customer Reviews

Art Quilts at Play: Ignite Your Inner Artist-Experiment with Surface Design Techniques

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mixed-media and fiber artists Jane Davila and Elin Waterston, the team that brought us Art Quilt Workbook in 2007, have another hit on their hands, I think. This book encourages quilters to explore new techniques, materials and processes. It offers straightforward directions, concise supply lists, numerous illustrations and ample encouragement for beginners as well as those who already have their feet wet. It's an excellent introduction for beginners, or a handy reference for the more experienced.

Section 1 includes chapters on:
1. fabric creation (mixing color, fabric dyeing, simple screen printing, nature printing, found object printing, stamp making, fabric painting with water-based resists, bleach discharging, and images on fabric)

2. special effects (paintstiks, fabric inks, water soluble pastels, painted fusible web, gel medium, expandable paint medium, shrink film, metalic foil and leafing, PearlEx powders, art glitter, and Angelina heat-bondable fiber)

3. a student gallery.

I had already played with most of these materials and techniques, so I didn't really need the first section. But as a teacher of surface design techniques for quilters, this is definitely a book I'll recommend, and refer to in class. Those without formal art training will also appreciate the glossary.

The second part of the book is what takes this beyond a mere how-to or reference book. Here are fun and interesting ways to push yourself out of your box, share your work, learn from others, and collaborate with other artists in a group.

Section 2 includes chapters on:
1. challenges (subject challenges, word challenges, process challenges)

2. collaborative projects (fabric art journals, surprise package, exquisite corpse, mixed media art)

3. art to trade (artist trading cards, fiber art postcards, small art swaps)

4. connections (online groups and the Internet, small in-person groups, critique groups)

5. collaborating artists gallery.

All in all, this is a great book with lots of practical exercises, as well as loads of inspiration, encouragement and energy.

You can order an autographed copy on Jane or Elin's website.

Art Quilts at Play is a wonderful book that de-mystifies how to use the myriad of new products available to creative quilters. The instructions and illustrations are easy to follow - dozens of photos of quilts serve as great examples of what is possible. It would take at least a week of classes to learn what is packed into this one book. Art Quilts at Play is great for both the beginner and experienced quilter as it includes clear instructions for the newbie as well as examples of more complex work. Many techniques can also be applied to paper/mixed media projects so this book isn't for only quilters! A great addition to my art library!

I'm trying to break from the traditional quiltmaking and have found these 2 books Art Quilts and Art Quilts at Play to be a great help.

Learn new ways of creating surface designs using over twenty different techniques and approaches with Art Quilts at Play, a powerful survey pairing photos of work created by a range of artists with a focus on art quilting techniques. From painted fusible web to direct painting, this is packed with innovations and ideas.

This is an excellent book for those who are interested in Art Quilts. I just wish I had more personal creativity to put their ideas to use. They are both very good teachers.

Art Quilts at Play by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston is a great primer for quilt artists! It is a great addition to Art Quilts Workbook, published in 2007, also by Davila and Waterston. While the Art Quilt Workbook seems focused on art for quilters, Art Quilts at Play emphasizes techniques for making the art quilt. Color mixing is at the beginning of the book, but fabric dyeing, painting, printing, stamping, using stencils, and Shva Paintstiks are all covered. This is like an encyclopedia, all in one book, of projects to try and a student gallery is included to show what others have made.

Besides being just a technique book, Art Quilts at Play encourages swapping with other art quilters, through postcards, artist trading cards and more.

Art Quilts at Play is a great reference book on techniques and will keep you playing in quilt making for years to come. Why don't you try, too?
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To make your art quilts unique, this book begins with a section on surface design - it looks at many different ways of dyeing or colouring your fabric from printing methods and stamping to direct dyeing and shibori. It then goes on to bleaching and discharging as well as image transfer. Under special effects you will find Shiva (known as Markal in Europe) Paintstiks, direct painting with inks and marbling. How about painting fusible web, expandable paint medium, shrink film or metallic foils? Have you made beads from Angelina? There are lots of methods to try out - but probably nothing you have not heard of before. The beauty of this books is that all the methods are in one place . The instructions are clear and adequately illustrated. Chapter four challenges you to explore your creativity. It looks at themes and ideas, this is continued in the remaining chapters which deal with working as an artist - collaboration, trading and connections. 16 artist's work is showcased in the book. I think this is an excellent book for beginners in surface design and those exploring the idea of selling or trading their work. This review first appeared on Karen Platt's book review website.

There is nothing new here. This book primarily covers various techniques, most of which are both easy and widely known. Very little in the way of interesting, unique projects. There are photos of various art quilts to illustrate what can be done with the techniques covered- but there are better books out there for inspiration AND for techniques.

not impressed at all - thought her first one was much better
I returned it - would rather have the first one than this......